1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multi-stage connector comprising a plurality of substantially identical housings each having an opening portion formed in one surface of the housing, and terminal receiving chambers exposed to the outside through the opening portion, the housings being connected to one another so that the opening portion of one housing is covered by a surface of an adjacent housing corresponding to the side opposite to the opening portion of the one housing, and a method for producing and assembling the same.
2. Related Art
An example of a conventional multi-stage connector having a plurality of housings stacked on one another and connected to one another is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,279. As shown in FIGS. 10 and 11, which are a front view and a plan view of the connector, respectively, a first housing 1 and a second housing 3 are integrally molded while connected to each other by hinge portions 5. In FIG. 10, the housings 1 and 3 are provided with terminal receiving chambers 11 and 13 which have opening portions 7 and 9 formed above the terminal receiving chamber 11 and 13. Solderless-contact terminals 15 and 17 are received in the terminal receiving chambers 11 and 13, respectively.
As shown in FIG. 10, coated wires 19 are solderlessly forced, by a solderless-contact jig 21, into the solderless-contact terminals 15 received in the first housing 1. Further, coated wires 19 are solderlessly forced into the solderless-contact terminals 17 of the second housing 3 in the same manner as described above. After that, for example, the second housing 3 is turned around a hinge 5 in the direction of the arrow P in FIG. 10, so that the housings 1 and 3 are stacked on each other to thereby form such a male connector as shown in FIG. 12. FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing the male connector integrally molded with the first and second housings 1 and 3 and a female connector 23 to which the male connector is fitted.
The conventional multi-stage connector is, however, molded such that the opening portions 7 and 9 of the first and second housings 1 and 3 face in the same direction, as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11. Although this is an advantage in that solderless-contact terminals and coated wires can be installed easily from the same direction, because the housings 1 and 3 are molded side by side, the size of the mold is necessarily large. This increased size makes it difficult to mold large numbers of multi-stage connectors each having a plurality of housings (for example, two housings here) in a single mold.
Further, in the conventional multi-stage connector, the opening portions 7 and 9 face each other when the first and second housings 1 and 3 are stacked and connected to each other. Accordingly, the solderless-contact terminals 15 and 17 received in the terminal receiving chambers 11 and 13 face each other reversed in the vertical direction. It is therefore necessary to install terminals of a partner female connector 23 taking into account the directions of the terminals; or the partner housings must be designed so that the terminals of the partner housings face each other reversed in the vertical direction. Thus, a problem arises in that much labor is required for assembling and producing the multi-stage connector.